Ian Burke Mr. Giles Honors American Literature 6 Feb. 2015 “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and The Crucible Essay Two coarse yet uniquely fragile societies, three hundred years apart, devoured by individual ideologies that permeated belief systems, that blinded, deafened, and muted citizens, and that ultimately led to gruesome hysteria. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, written by Jonathan Edwards in the mid-1700’s, is a sermon directed to a Puritan congregation urging with orthodox fervor for transgressors to repent. Arthur Miller wrote the allegorical play The Crucible in 1953, lively portraying the hysteria occurring during the Salem Witch Trials in an effort to describe his perceptions of the post-war climate of McCarthyism and the sheer terror of Communism. In the pulpit oratory “Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards eloquently uses imagery, metaphors, and symbolism in order to instill fear in his congregation and persuasively explain to them that, aside from faith and the pleasure of God, one would be rapidly and eternally damned to Hell; Miller, on the other hand, exploits allegory, characterization, and imagery throughout the play The Crucible in order to fervently articulate his disdainful attitude regarding McCarthyism and the Red Scare. Jonathan Edward’s use of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in order to instill fear in his congregation and reveal the message that, aside from faith and
Today, we plaster death, relationship drama, and corruption in Holy places everywhere for our enjoyment. During 1953 when the author Arthur Miller wrote a play called The Crucible, it had all of those components. This play had the drama of infidelity, lying, murder, and corruption of a church; all of the fun things that make us laugh, cry, and fear for a character's fate. The Puritans did not allow entertainment, only work and pray, so when they received entertainment they took to the extreme. The play will have Miller playing with your emotions in the same ways that the Puritans played with life and death. Throughout this play, Miller will create pathos through the conflicts of infidelity, religion, and injustice.
Imagery is used by Edwards to induce terror onto the congregation by illustrating the power of God on “wicked men” (para. 10). In the beginning of the excerpt, Edwards paints a picture of sinners ready to fall into the pit of hell, with only God’s will keeping them up. He describes it as such,
The novel, The Crucible was written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, which was based on the Salem Witch Trials existing in the late 1600s. In the play, Abigail and several other young women accuse innocent citizens of Salem for the action of witchcraft. During the trials, many individuals were unfairly persecuted; such as John Proctor. This event in history may be associated with the Red Scare, in which individuals were tried for their questionable influences of communism in the United States. When Miller compares the character of John Proctor to himself, the reader is able to relate the similar experiences that both men faced. The Crucible demonstrates the struggle against corruption involving the court, which lead to the death of many innocent individuals in Salem. The Crucible generates an allegory for Arthur Miller’s struggles with McCarthyism because of his similar experience relating to John Proctor’s battle against the Salem Witch Trials, and the relation between the actions of the court in both situations. Arthur Miller uses several writing methods in order to convey The Crucible as an allegory for his struggles with McCarthyism. Miller demonstrates how the Crucible represents an allegory for his conflict with McCarthyism by relating his experiences with the plot of the novel. Miller relates the novel to his struggles by stating, “Should the accused confess, his honesty could only be proved by naming former confederates.” (Are You Now… 34) Miller is explaining how the court
Have you ever felt like you were among frauds and liars in a group supposedly full of devotees? The people living in late 1600s Salem were known as God-fearing, yet often projected their personal vendettas onto one another through the witchcraft trials. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller utilizes characterization, dramatic and verbal irony, and symbolism to the the convey the conflict of piety and corruption, therefore exposing the hypocrisy of a theocratic community.
“YOU’RE A WITCH!”, “YOU’RE A COMMUNIST!” Imagine you’ve been brought to a court or government panel, even though you haven't committed any crime or been charged with one. You are questioned about your political or biblical values and are accused of disloyalty or of being a witch and are asked to incriminate your friends, neighbors and associates. If you don’t cooperate, you risk jail, losing your job, or are killed; this occurred during the Salem witch trials and the McCarthyism era. McCarthyism was a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692/93. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a an allegory for the Red Scare in the McCarthy era because people believed false evidence out of fear, people falsely accused each other out of fear and self gain, and after the trials the accused lives were
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller expresses themes such as superstition, malice, and injustice. The book compares the unfair times in the 1950s to the Salem Witch Trials. Women were falsely accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death. The people in Salem believed the devil roamed somewhere within the town. Rivalries between neighbors were taken advantage of. People were accused by others who wanted their land or other belongings. Once one was accused, they either had to admit to witchcraft or be executed. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller addresses the themes of superstition, malice, and injustice in a way that indicates society’s tendency to believe everything they hear.
The Crucible, a phenomenal play, written by Arthur Miller is an allegory to the McCarthy Trials of the 1950s. An allegory is a story with two levels of meaning- literal and symbolic. In an allegory the character, events, and instances(“Definition of Allegory” R104). Characters like John Proctor, Abigail William and Hathorne represent Arthur Miller, Joseph McCarthy, and J.Edgar Hoover. Events like the people who were hanged, and people were accused of being witches were similar to blacklisted and they blamed for being communist. Instances were, when Procter’s wife was pregnant, and Danforth made people choose a side were in comparison to Francis Walter’s wife took a photo with his finance and the communist hide their beliefs. Miller wrote The Crucible as an allegory to show morality within a society that will accept others, to teach paranoia results in trauma and to criticize the government way of causing unnecessary fear.
The world is so full of stupendous works of literature, which are subjected to a plethora of different personal interpretations. It is inconceivable to imagine that each novel has only one prominent underlying message or theme. Arthur Miller, the American dramatist and playwright, out of The University of Michigan, was able to transform one of the most notable accounts of mass hysteria and loss of rational thought, and mold it into an elaborate and complex drama. Miller’s, The Crucible tells the story of the Salem witch trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the late seventeenth century. Literary lenses are used to assist readers in admiring and evaluating literary works, in an overabundance of ways. When analyzing The Crucible through the historical, psychological, and archetypal lenses, the reader can see the prominent niche that each lens plays within the story, significantly impacting the reader’s point of view on not only the story itself, but as well as the broader connection to society as a whole.
In "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", Jonathan Edwards uses pathos, imagery, and analogy to persuade his audience in his speech.
Arthur Miller wrote the play “The Crucible” in 1953. Arthur Miller wrote this play to present issues that were occurring in the 1950’s during a period of political disagreements. The investigations were used to find communists who practiced witchcraft. The Crucible was also considered as an attack on McCarthy’s abuse of power and authority. Miller explained the universal issue that was dealing with burden practices on individuals.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Jonathan Edwards is the author of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He speaks to sinners to scare them into repenting by using vivid imagery and logos. Persuasion is effective in this sermon because it allows the reader to side with the author’s point of view. When Jonathan Edwards uses vivid imagery in his sermon its effectiveness allows the reader to create a picture in their head of what he is trying to explain in his sermon. Vivid imagery is important in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God because it allows him to “scare” his audience back to the Christian ways.
Arthur Miller used the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible as an allegory for the mass hysteria he witnessed in his time through McCarthyism and the Red Scare. McCarthyism, named fairly enough after its instigator Senator Joseph McCarthy, swept the nation into a panic during the 1950’s, and ignited a unique witch hunt, though not an unfamiliar one to the American people: a
Set in Salem Massachusetts, The Crucible written by Arthur Miller in 1952 is a very well known play. Written during the time of McCarthyism, it is evident how Arthur Miller uses the power of accusation when writing this book. The people in Salem Village believe in witches and devils, and if a person is convicted of being a witch or conjuring with spirits, then they are hanged. If a person confesses then that would mean they could live longer, however they could not go to heaven anymore only hell. All of this builds into the whole idea of what the definition of the crucible is.
The Crucible, written in 1953 by Arthur Miller was a play full of lies, adultery, and deceit. The play is set in seventeenth century Salem, Massachusetts. During this time period, religion was strongly in affect. The women were expected to be housewives and take care of their husband and children. On the other hand the men were expected to be the breadwinners of their household and be true to themselves, their families, and their community. The town of Salem was the epitome of God being the center of everything. All was well and peaceful until one day the daughter of Reverend Parris, Betty, suddenly became ill and no one could figure out the cause. Arthur Miller wanted to portray that lying can hurt those you love most, religion determined
In his play The Crucible, published in 1953, writer Arthur Miller used the time period of the Puritans to convey his warning about the McCarthy era. Through his dramatization of various conflicts within the Salem community, Miller opened the Twentieth Century eyes to the witch hunt conducted by Senator Joe McCarthy. Using the motifs of power struggles, accusations, and confessions depicted the conflicts between Abigail and Mary Warren, John Proctor and himself, Reverend Hale and Parris and Tituba to convey the theme that fear makes people believe and do things they normally would not do.